


tell me how all this, and love too, will ruin us

by thewhitebirds



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Death Eaters, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Falling In Love, Gen, Male Homosexuality, Marauders' Era, Pre-Marauders' Era, Pregnancy, Pureblood Culture, Pureblood Politics, Pureblood Society, Secret Relationship, The Golden Trio Era, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, toujours pur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 22:44:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15694854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewhitebirds/pseuds/thewhitebirds
Summary: "We are meant for the greater things."Andromeda shivers. She imagines Ted’s response, the curl of his eyelashes, the grin on his open face.What are the greater things, Meda?--Three conversations shape Andromeda Black's love story (one with a sister, one with an uncle, and one with a daughter).





	tell me how all this, and love too, will ruin us

**Author's Note:**

> This can be read as a companion to [summer in the city](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7797133) but can also stand on its own.

_I kiss him and say  
I don’t believe in truth anymore. _

_I kiss him and say  
I am paralyzed by hope. _

\-- 

On the night before Bella's wedding they do what they've always done and steal up to the roof, firewhiskey in hand. Cissy complains about the chill, but in the end being left out is worse than anything and she scrambles a beat behind them, over eaves and around chimneys. Andie settles down and pulls the fur-lined cloak closer around her shoulders. Here, the stars are very bright and close enough to touch.

Bella settles her head on Andromeda's shoulder and they pass the bottle back and forth, ignoring Cissy's persistent grimaces. Bella rolls her eyes with impatience: "For Salazar's sake, bring your own champagne next time if you're going to be such a baby."

The whiskey burns Andie's throat. "I'll miss you, Bella. I'll miss us."

Bellatrix lets out a throaty laugh and tosses a wave of glossy black hair over her shoulders. "I'm not going anywhere, silly. I'll still be _me_."

 _But who is that?_ Andromeda wonders. Each day, the gulf between them widens. She doesn't want to know Bellatrix's secrets, but the thought of what they might be makes her sick to her stomach. And she doesn't want to think about what Bella would do if she found hers. But here on the roof, it feels like the old days.  

Narcissa harbors no such concern and she smiles, cheeks pink from the cold. "You'll be Bellatrix Lestrange this time tomorrow. It sounds so _glamorous_." This week everything is _glamorous_ to Cissy. Andromeda resists the urge to roll her eyes. Everyone deserves the chance to be young and silly.  

"Ah! But once a Black, always a Black." Bella waves a pale hand and the Black signet on her pinkie gleams in the starlight.  

Andie takes another drink, relishing the warmth. "And you're very very sure?" For all that he is the heir to a family as great as the Blacks, Rodolphus is still somewhat of a mystery to their parents: tall and broad-shouldered, taciturn and scholarly, unshakeable in the face of Bella's wild moods and tempers. Andromeda thinks there is no mystery, because she has seen them duel on the grounds, a blur of wands and laughter and raw power. England's most dangerous pair. Like Bella, Dolph is pure violence constrained by fine clothes. There is no mystery, but she feels afraid. For them. Of them.

"I'm very sure," Bella smiles like the cat that got the cream, heavy-lidded eyes fluttering shut. "Our destinies are entwined. We will be Our Lord's most beloved and will usher in His new world, hand in hand." Her voice lowers to a hoarse whisper. "We are meant for the greater things."

Andromeda shivers. She imagines Ted’s response, the curl of his eyelashes, the grin on his open face. _W_ _hat are the greater things, Meda? What’s greater than just being together in this moment?_

"So the great Bellatrix Black is a Seer now," even Cissy is taken aback at the arrogance in Bella's voice. "Or is she just a normal girl in love?"   

Bella dissolves in a fit of giggles, finally looking less the haughty sorceress and more the young woman on the eve of her wedding. "And we're getting a dog, you ninnies."

\-- 

Uncle Alphard has taken a house right on the canals, and for a few days Andromeda does nothing more than sit on the terrace and watch the gondolas float by. Inside, she wanders around peering at the art and artifacts, drinking Campari and soda. She ignores two frosty letters from Druella about the inappropriateness of gallivanting around the continent when Adrian Selwyn and Preston Parkinson have been repeatedly trying to see her.

Alphard waits for five days and then finally, at dinner, he sets down his wine glass with a decisive clink as the fish course is removed. "Darling girl, I think you're in love."

Andie pleats her napkin, face pinched. "Is it so obvious?" She supposes Alphard could write to her father or Great-Uncle Arcturus and put an end to everything, but instinct tells her he won't. They have never discussed it, but she knows he is no stranger to forbidden love. And she is tired of lying so much. 

"It is obvious."

"I'm frightened," she finally says. "If—if I see it through, I think they'll try to kill him."

"Of course you're frightened. I had a similar choice, once, but I was not brave enough," he smiles gently. "Instead, I chose unicorn's blood."  
  
Andromeda raises a puzzled eyebrow. 

"The cursed half-life," he clarifies, a faraway look in his eyes. "I shunted all the responsibilities of an eldest son to your father—who to his credit has managed the estates far better than I ever could, but I digress—and I took off under the pretense of expanding the family's wealth abroad. So I kept the family, but only partly, and I live as I wish, but only in the shadows. And I lost my great love. He is now… " Alphard trails off as the elf replaces their plates. "I cannot tell you how to proceed, my dear. You must decide."

She moves the gelato around the dish without trying it. "I don't want to live in secret. I just want to be happy.”

"An elusive but worthy goal. If you are afraid for your safety, you must plan carefully. But then, nothing is truly safe these days.”

Andie nods slowly. The war will come—in London, she can nearly feel the air crackle with tension.  

“What is he like?”

Her face breaks into a smile. “He’s kind,” she says slowly. “To everyone. Too much heart, maybe.”

“Good.” Alphard adjusts his bejeweled cufflinks. “What do I always say? If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats everyone, not just his equals.”

\-- 

Dora crosses her arms. “Is this how the conversation went went when you told your mother you were up the spout?"

"Not really," Andromeda says dryly, wrapping her hands around the mug of tea. "Are you telling us you're pregnant, too?" 

"No," Dora laughs. Tonight, her hair is a jet-black waterfall and Andromeda’s breath is taken away by the similarity to a young Bella. Dora moves slightly, and the resemblance is gone. "Because I'm not some kind of crazy lovesick hippie like the two of you were."

“Guilty as charged,” Ted inclines his head. “You have to understand why we’re worried, though. He’s fourteen years older than you, he’s unemployed, he’s—”

“We’re both adults! And he’s only unemployed because of that hateful legislation! You’re both such bloody hypocrites—how is this any different from disowning people because they ran away with a muggle-born?” 

“It’s different,” Ted begins. At the same time, Andromeda raises her voice. “No one is disowning _anyone_ , Nymphadora Tonks.”

“I love him,” Dora sticks her chin out mulishly. “I don’t care about money. I don’t care that he’s a werewolf. I don’t bloody care about anything else.” 

Andromeda studies the tea in her mug, idly wondering who has made their daughter this stubborn. Ted reaches for her hand. For a long moment, they all sit in silence.

“People are going to _die_ out there,” Dora says, voice cracking. “Is it so bad that I just want something that makes me happy?” 

“No,” Andie finally whispers, her own eyes stinging. “No, it’s not bad.”


End file.
